Light weight composite materials have been used for replacing metal materials, such as for replacing sheets of metal material, with a material that offers a reduction in weight. These light weight composites may include one or more metal layers and one or more polymer layers. Examples of light weight composites include core laminates and sandwich materials.
When manufacturing composite materials, there may be difficulties in manufacturing composite materials that are wide. The difficulties may result from wide materials (e.g., metal sheets, and/or sheets of polymer layers) being unavailable, difficult to produce, or costly. For example, there may be difficulty of producing long (e.g., about 1.1 m or more, about 1.6 m or more, or about 2 m or more) metal sheet (e.g., steel sheets) having both i) a thickness of about 0.3 mm or less (e.g., about 0.2 mm or less) and 2) a width of about 1 m or more (e.g., about 1.5 m or more).
Additionally, in manufacturing articles that include a composite material there is often a need to attach the composite material to one or more other materials. For example, there may be a need to attach a sheet of a composite material to a metal sheet or to another sheet of a composite material. There may be difficulties in attaching such materials, particularly when the attached materials will be subjected to one or more deformation steps (such as one or more stamping steps). For example a region at or near the attachment of the two materials may be thicker than other regions. These “bumps” in thickness may result in difficulties in stamping operations, such as damage to a conventional stamping die.
To overcome these challenges, there is a need for new methods for manufacturing wide composite materials, for new composite materials, and for new articles made from a composite material. For example there is a need for wide composite materials that are wide sheets or other wide blanks of composite materials that can be employed in a forming operation, such as stamping operation.
There is a continuing need for new sheet like materials that are light weight. There is a need for composite materials that are wider. There is a need for new methods for producing composite materials (e.g., for producing composite materials that are wide). There is a need for new methods for edge joining composite materials. There is a need for articles that include edge joined composite materials that can be formed (e.g., stamped) in convention equipment used for forming monolithic metal sheets (e.g., without the need for new stamping machine and/or dies).